


not the greatest feeling ever

by stupidwithu



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Confused Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series), F/M, Fanfiction, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series), Platonic Rini, Ricky Bowen Needs A Hug (HSM: The Series), Ricky Bowen-centric (HSM: The Series), Sickfic, Soft Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series), Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:55:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23548780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stupidwithu/pseuds/stupidwithu
Summary: She looks him over, then turns back to see if anyone is still around from rehearsals. Nobody is. She turns her attention back to Ricky and bites her lip. His face is contorted in pain, white and glistening with sweat. She should’ve seen this earlier. She shouldn’t have let him leave.“Ricky,” she collects herself. He stirs in acknowledgement. “What happened here?”Or: Ricky has a migraine and can't drive himself home.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts
Kudos: 118





	not the greatest feeling ever

“—icky?”

Ricky hears mumbling. Warm vibrations. The undertone to a voice he should know. He can’t make out the words. He should open his eyes. That might help, but it _hurts_. He wants to tell the voice to stop talking. Not so loud. But when he opens his mouth, all that comes out is a shuttered breath.

There’s something soft, then. On his leg. Warm in feeling but cool to the touch. He finds himself giving into it. He starts to hear the words.

“Ricky,”

That’s him.

“Can you hear me?”

He can.

“Open your eyes, bub—”

He doesn’t think that’s such a good idea.

“—I know it hurts, but I need you to see me.”

“I see you,” Ricky slurs with his eyes still closed. He could never _not_ see her.

The hand leaves his thigh. Ricky shutters. It’s replaced, though, at his cheek. Her thumb strokes the skin beneath his eye. Some of her fingers are wrapped around his neck, beneath his jaw. “Ricky, _please_.”

This time, he listens.

Ricky’s on the concrete floor of the student parking lot. He’s sitting propped up against a fence, just by the entrance, with his legs sprawled out in front of him and arms limp. He’s still wearing his backpack; he notices by the unnatural arch of his back and the subtle ache blossoming there. It’s nothing compared to his head, though, so he doesn’t prioritize it. When he opens his eyes, he sees flashes of dark brown hair and a bright red sweater. He blinks, swallows hard, and shuts them tight again.

“Sorry,” he chokes. “Migraine.”

“I know,” Nini’s leg is bouncing. If he could see her, Ricky thinks he’d find her eyes glossy with tears, that same look of disappointment from earlier etched across her features.

“I know, I know,” she repeats, quieter.

She looks him over, then turns back to see if anyone is still around from rehearsals. Nobody is. She turns her attention back to Ricky and bites her lip. His face is contorted in pain, white and glistening with sweat. She should’ve seen this earlier. She shouldn’t have let him leave.

It’s been nearly an hour since Ricky stormed out of rehearsals. The whole thing came crashing down in his absence, but Nini stayed behind to sort things out with Carlos and Miss Jenn, and – fine – maybe rant about Ricky. A little. _Shit_.

“Ricky,” she collects herself. He stirs in acknowledgement. “What happened here?”

“Did you fall?” She fits a hand beneath his hair to feel for bumps.

Ricky squints at her. His gaze is a little more present, but his eyes are watery. The more he tries to blink the light away, the more tears build up behind his lashes.

“I, um—” he’s thinking hard. “No—”

Nini lets out a grateful breath.

“Was walking to the car… felt… not great,” he laughs, but quickly regrets it. “Just wanted to sit for a moment. Compose myself. So I could drive.”

Nini doesn’t comment on how long of a moment it’s been. She takes her phone from her back pocket and glances at the screen from behind her body, so Ricky doesn’t see the light. The same message from earlier is still there.

 **mom <3**: OMW in a few!

Ricky looks confused.

“Let me get you to your car, okay? You can lay down in the back seat until my mom gets here.”

He takes a few minutes to comprehend the order. By the time he does, he’s standing already, leaning heavily on Nini, who sways dangerously under his weight. She loops a hand around his waist and takes a small step forward, looking at him with pleading eyes.

Something sets off alarms in Ricky’s head. Nini’s mom? He’s not… they’re not… there. They’re broken up. Nini, and him, they’re… she’s – she’s mad at him. _Shit_.

Ricky’s eyes go wide. “Nini!”

“What?”

“I’m so, _so_ sorry!” He peers down at her. She’s looking at him with an expression he’s seen a handful of times: equal parts confusion and concern. “I—you,” he can’t remember why he’s apologizing. “I don’t know…”

“Ricky…”

“Oh!” he gulps. His vision is starting to go black around the edges. He can feel something leaving from his body, something he can’t quite place draining down to his toes and making him feel empty. “I… remember. I _suck_. You—You’re mad at me, because I suck. At the dip, I think, and at being a boyfriend. And at saying I—”

“Ricky.”

“My head hurts.”

When he looks at Nini again, she's blinking back tears. She’s also saying his name, he realizes, because her lips are moving in that shape. He can’t hear it, though. Can’t hear much of anything but static. Which is nice.

“I don’t feel good,” he tries to say. He can feel the words in his throat but isn’t sure if they come out when he opens his mouth. He still feels them there, bobbing up and down like…

“Ricky!”

Ricky’s upper half collapses into his waist and he pukes, hard.

All at once, the sound returns. The sound of his stomach contents splattering on the sidewalk and the inexorable gag that follows.

Nini yelps. She’s got both hands beneath his shoulders, barely preventing him from falling face first into the mess he’s made. He’s getting harder to hold, and he’s shaking. Fortunately for Nini, he gets the coherency to place his hands on his knees when the second wave pours past his lips. It’s not the most secure stance, but Nini takes the chance to let him go, maneuvering quickly to his side, where she can take him by the hips.

“Okay!” her voice breaks. “No car. That’s fine. Back to the floor, yeah?”

Ricky throws up once more before Nini thinks it’s safe to move him. He’s still heaving against hot, strangled tears, but nothing’s coming up, so she gets him back against the fence with relative ease. She pulls his backpack straps from his shoulders cautiously, shuffling it to the side where hers is.

“Hey,” she tries softly. She falls into a cross-legged position to his right, and lets the sick boy topple over into her lap. He grips the fabric of her sweatpants deliriously. A few feet away, her phone lights up on the ground:

 **mom <3**: I’m here.

 _Thank God_.

“Nini, I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

 _For puking on your shoes_ , she expects him to say. Instead, he whispers, “for being a dick.”

She has his curls between her fingers and she’s raking through them like she always used to. In a normal scenario, she’d never let herself fall back into something like that, but she can tell it’s helping. It always helps. “Don’t be.”

Ricky pulls her hand from his hair. His eyes are closed but he finds it effortlessly and pulls it shakily to his lips. He kisses her fingers softly.

“Actually, no, you should definitely be sorry.” Nini forces a breath of laughter and Ricky curves his lips into the closest thing he can manage to a smile. She retracts her hand with bubbling regret. “But, not right now.”

“’Kay. Tomorrow then.”

She reaches over him to grab her phone. Ricky leans into the warmth of her torso and she lets him, just this once, before falling back with a sigh.

“Tomorrow,” she agrees.

“Tonight, just let me help you,” she soothes, typing away at the screen.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why this had to be so dramatic, but I have no regrets.
> 
> also, here I am... writing a fanfic about a Disney+ High School Musical spinoff... ok


End file.
